Originally published April 19 2013
Obama pursues astonishing abuses, expansion of federal power, says U.S. Senator
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) While tens of millions of Americans believe President Obama may be the most divisive president since Abraham Lincoln, at least one U.S. senator thinks he may be the most abusive in terms of wielding power.
Granted, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is a political opponent, to be sure, so some may be prone to take his comments in that context. But in reality Cruz is more than just a political opponent: He is also a constitutional expert who has served as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Reinquist; as an associate deputy attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department and as the director of policy planning at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission under President George W. Bush; and as Solicitor General for the state of Texas. He has authored more than 80 U.S. Supreme Court briefs and presented 43 oral arguments, including nine before the nation's highest court. He also authored the amicus brief, which was signed by the attorneys general of 31 states, in the District of Columbia v. Heller case, which said that Washington, D.C.'s ban on handgun possession and ownership was unconstitutional (this was the case in which the high court reaffirmed the Second Amendment as an individual right, striking down D.C.'s gun ban).
So it's clear that Cruz, aside from his party affiliation, knows a thing or two about the Constitution, it's separation of powers, and what each branch of government is constitutionally bound to perform. And he believes the president is, quite frankly, abusing his power.
Cruz: Obama administration trying to steal power
Cruz - a "Tea Party" favorite who has found himself at odds both with Democrats and members of his own Republican Party, recently released a report in which he documented a series of Obama administration abuses of federal power, saying the current White House "knows virtually no bounds" in the way it acts.
In making his case, Cruz points to the two Obama Supreme Court appointees, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. Per his report:
When President Obama's own Supreme Court nominees join their colleagues in unanimously rejecting the Administration's call for broader federal power six times in just over one year, the inescapable conclusion is that the Obama Administration's view of federal power knows virtually no bounds.
Among the administration's over-reaching, the report said, were attempts to track Americans electronically, without probable cause, as well as deny churches the ability to choose their own ministers.
Those cases, said Cruz - who is a ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights - "demonstrate an astonishing view of federal power on behalf of the Obama administration."
More from the report:
"If the Department of Justice had won these cases, the federal government would be able to electronically track all of our movements, fine us without a fair hearing, dictate who churches choose as ministers, displace state laws based on the President's whims, bring debilitating lawsuits against individuals based on events that occurred years ago, and destroy a person's private property without just compensation.
He added: "Luckily, we do not have to live in that America."
In one of those cases, Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. EEOC, Justice Department lawyers argued it "had the right to oversee a church's choosing of ministers," which even Supreme Court Justice Kagan called "amazing."
Cruz documents high court rejections of administration
In the end, the high court unanimously rejected the DOJ's claim, ruling, "We cannot accept the remarkable view that Religion Clauses have nothing to say about a religious organization's freedom to select its own ministers."
Another case, United States v. Jones, saw DOJ lawyers arguing that the federal government had the blanket authority to attach a GPS locator to a vehicle without cause, in spite of the Fourth Amendment's restrictions on unreasonable searches and seizures. The Justice Department said attaching such a device to a car did not constitute a search because a "GPS system is already in public view and a person should not expect it to be private."
Once again, the court ruled unanimously against the department [http://www.naturalnews.com].
"The Obama Administration, through its Department of Justice, has repeatedly advocated a radical theory of sweeping federal power," the report says.
Cruz added that he'll continue to document cases "as long as this Administration continues seeking ways to expand its power in direct violation of Americans' constitutional rights."
Sources for this article include:
http://www.cnsnews.com
http://www.scribd.com
http://www.naturalnews.com
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